#SixOnSaturday – Six things happening in my garden this week

Six on Saturday is a weekly meme originally hosted by The Propagator but now in the tender care of Jim at Garden Ruminations.

We had some rain! Okay, it wasn’t very much or very prolonged but it was still wet stuff falling from the sky. The forecast shows a few more dry days followed by alonger period of showers. So the watering cans aren’t redundant yet and I can’t see the hosepipe ban being lifted anytime soon. Things to show off are still sparse but I’ve managed to come up with six.

One – The big news this week has been the arrival of our potting shed, erected on the site where our old, leaky garage used to be. Since popular wisdom is you always wished you’d gone for something bigger, we went big – 12 feet by 6 feet. Once the guttering and downpipes are attached we’ll be able to connect up additional water butts, on the basis you can never have too many given current weather trends.

Two – A few things are showing signs of blooming again such as this hardy geranium. I must cut back some of the other spent flowers.

Three – The dahlias in the raised beds in the front garden are doing okay thanks to being prioritised for watering. This variety is ‘Bayou’.

Four – Also surviving is Salvia jamensis ‘Rio Grande’.

Five – Erigeron karvinskianus which is supposedly drought tolerant has actually needed some water to help it survive. To be fair it is growing in our south-facing front garden in full sun.

Six – Last week I picked a watering can as the most essential piece of garden equipment given the current weather conditions. This week I’m nominating the bucket we place in the shower to capture the water while it heats up.

Do check out the posts of other participants by following the links in the comments section of Jim’s post. If you fancy taking part yourself but don’t know where to start, here’s the participant’s guide.

#WWWWednesday – 19th August 2026

Hosted by Taking on a World of Words, this meme is all about the three Ws:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

Why not join in too?  Leave a comment with your link at Taking on a World of Words and then go blog hopping!


Our Noble Selves by Kate Atkinson (Doubleday via NetGalley)

It’s the summer of 1951 and everyone is looking to put the dark days of the war behind them. The government’s solution: The Festival of Britain, a celebration of the country’s creativity, grit and ingenuity.

For foreign correspondent turned war reporter Harry Flynn, it might offer the chance of redemption after a bad war in the Far East and a peace that is proving no easier to negotiate. Having failed to resume his journalistic career, he reluctantly joins an oddball team of misfits, ne’er-do-wells and downright chancers helping to ready the Festival of Britain for launch.

Flynn’s attempts to resume some semblance of a romantic life also founder when one of his dates goes missing and he is deemed to be the last person to have seen her alive. Could he have been in some way responsible for her disappearance?

Little does he realize that the answer to some of his mounting problems may lie in the hands of a precocious, straight-talking thirteen-year-old called Veronica and a rather scruffy terrier who goes by the name of Mrs Betty…

A Thought Without Collision by Adrian Duncan (Tuskar Rock)

Summer, 1923. Six-year-old Catherine Carolan grows restless on her parents’ farm. It’s already clear that her intellect will soon outgrow the two-room schoolhouse across the fields. But in post-Civil War Ireland, an education is not an easy thing for a girl to access, and young Catherine is not the only one in her family who will come to tire of rural life.

Summer, 1951. To ease him through his final days, Dr. Josef Alois calls for someone from his past. Enter Catherine Carolan, now an Oxford professor. As Alois’s mind and body falter, Catherine must decide how far she will follow this man that she loves.

Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams (Pan Macmillan)

Sarah Wynn-Williams, a young diplomat from New Zealand, pitched for her dream job. She saw Facebook’s potential and knew it could change the world for the better. But, when she got there and rose to its top ranks, things turned out a little different.

From wild schemes cooked up on private jets to risking prison abroad, Careless People exposes both the personal and political fallout when boundless power and a rotten culture take hold. In a gripping and often absurd narrative, Wynn-Williams rubs shoulders with Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg and world leaders, revealing what really goes on among the global elite – and the consequences this has for all of us.

Candid and entertaining, this is an intimate memoir set amid powerful forces. As all our lives are upended by technology and those who control it, Careless People will change how you see the world.

A Shroud of Snow (Bradecote and Catchpoll #14) by Sarah Hawskwood (Allison & Busby)

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Penguin)

Sybil Van Antwerp is seventy-three, slowly losing her sight and always writing letters . . .

To her children. Her favourite authors. Her ex-sister-in-law. The journalist poking into her past. Her doctor. Suitors. Kindly neighbours. The infuriating gardening club.

All receive Sybil’s witty, wise correspondence, rich with everyday concerns.

But there is one letter that she has never sent. It concerns the darkest period of her life. To post it, Sybil must find forgiveness within herself.

The hardest letter to write is the one you’d never dare to send.